Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thomas Firminger Thiselton Dyer (year 2 reading books .txt) 📖
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Too full of foolish pity: and Gloster’s show
Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers,
Or as the snake, roll’d in a flowering bank,
With shining checker’d slough, doth sting a child,
That for the beauty thinks it excellent.”
Lady Macbeth (i. 5) tells her husband:
But be the serpent under’t.”
Juliet (“Romeo and Juliet,” iii. 2) speaks of:
“A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.” Other versions of this proverb are: “It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog;” “It is easy to find a stone to throw at a dog.”[861] So, in “2 Henry VI.” (iii. 1), Gloster says:
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt;
The ancient proverb will be well effected,—
A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.”
“A wise man may live anywhere.” In “Richard II.” (i. 3), John of Gaunt says:
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.”
“A woman conceals what she does not know.” Hence Hotspur says to his wife, in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 3):
But yet a woman: and for secrecy,
No lady closer; for I well believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,—
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.”
“All men are not alike” (“Much Ado About Nothing,” iii. 5).[862]
“All’s Well that Ends Well.”
“As lean as a rake.” So in “Coriolanus” (i. 1), one of the citizens says: “Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes.” So Spenser, in his “Fairy Queen” (bk. ii. can. 11):
This proverb is found in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” (i. 289):
“As thin as a whipping-post” is another proverb of the same kind.
“As mad as a March hare” (“The Two Noble Kinsmen,” iii. 5). We may compare the expression “hare-brained:” “1 Henry IV.” (v. 2).
“As sound as a bell.” So in “Much Ado about Nothing” (iii. 2), Don Pedro says of Benedick: “He hath a heart as sound as a bell.”
“As the bell clinketh, so the fool thinketh.” This proverb is indirectly alluded to in “Much Ado About Nothing” (iii. 2), in the previous passage, where Don Pedro says of Benedick that “He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks, his tongue speaks.”
Another form of the same proverb is: “As the fool thinks, the bell tinks.”[863]
“As true as steel.” This popular adage is quoted in “Troilus and Cressida” (iii. 2):
We may also compare the proverb: “As true as the dial to the sun.”
“At hand, quoth pick-purse” (“1 Henry IV.,” ii. 1). This proverbial saying arose, says Malone, from the pickpurse always seizing the prey nearest him.
“Ay, tell me that and unyoke” (“Hamlet,” v. 1). This was a common adage for giving over or ceasing to do a thing; a metaphor derived from the unyoking of oxen at the end of their labor.
“Baccare, quoth Mortimer to his sow.” With this Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps compares Gremio’s words in the “Taming of the Shrew” (ii. 1):
Let us, that are poor petitioners, speak too:
Baccare! you are marvellous forward.”
Mr. Dyce (“Glossary,” p. 23) says the word signifies “go back,” and cites one of John Heywood’s epigrams upon it:
Went that sowe backe at that bidding, trow you.”
“Barnes are blessings” (“All’s Well that Ends Well,” i. 3).
“Base is the slave that pays” (“Henry V.,” ii. 1).[864]
“Bastards are born lucky.” This proverb is alluded to in “King John” (i. 1), by the Bastard, who says:
For thou wast got i’ the way of honesty.”
Philip wishes his brother good fortune, because Robert was not a bastard.
“Beggars mounted run their horses to death.”[865] Quoted by York in “3 Henry VI.” (i. 4). We may also compare the proverb: “Set a beggar on horseback, he’ll ride to the devil.”
“Begone when the sport is at the best.” Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes Benvolio’s words in “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 5):
To the same effect are Romeo’s words (i. 4):
“Be off while your shoes are good.” This popular phrase, still in use, seems alluded to by Katharina in “Taming of the Shrew” (iii. 2), who says to Petruchio:
“Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.” Quoted by the clown in “Twelfth Night” (i. 5).
“Better fed than taught.” This old saying may be alluded to in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (ii. 2) by the clown, “I will show myself highly fed and lowly taught;” and again (ii. 4) by Parolles:
“Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.” Quoted by Launce as a proverb in the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (iii. 1).
“Blush like a black dog.” This saying is referred to in “Titus Andronicus” (v. 1):
“Bought and sold” (“Troilus and Cressida,” ii. 1). A proverbial phrase applied to any one entrapped or made a victim by treachery or mismanagement. It is found again in the “Comedy of Errors” (iii. 1); in “King John” (v. 4); and in “Richard III.” (v. 3).
“Bring your hand to the buttery-bar, and let it drink” (“Twelfth Night,” i. 3). Mr. Dyce quotes the following explanation of this passage, although he does not answer for its correctness: “This is a proverbial phrase among forward abigails, to ask at once for a kiss and a present. Sir Andrew’s slowness of comprehension in this particular gave her a just suspicion, at once, of his frigidity and avarice.” The buttery-bar means the place in palaces and in great houses whence provisions were dispensed; and it is still to be seen in most of our colleges.
“Brag’s a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better.” This proverb is alluded to in “Henry V.” (ii. 3), by Pistol:
“Bush natural, more hair than wit.” Ray’s Proverbs. So in “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (iii. 1), it is said, “She hath more hair than wit.”
“By chance but not by truth”[867] (“King John,” i. 1).
“Care will kill a cat; yet there’s no living without it.” So in “Much Ado About Nothing” (v. 1), Claudio says to Don Pedro: “What though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.”
“Come cut and long-tail” (“Merry Wives of Windsor,” iii. 4). This proverb means, “Let any come that may, good or bad;” and was, no doubt, says Staunton, originally applied to dogs or horses.
“Comparisons are odious.” So, in “Much Ado About Nothing” (iii. 5), Dogberry tells Verges: “Comparisons are odorous.”
“Confess and be hanged.” This well-known proverb is probably alluded to in the “Merchant of Venice” (iii. 2):
We may also refer to what Othello says (iv. 1): “To confess, and be hanged for his labour; first, to be hanged, and then to confess. I tremble at it.”
In “Timon of Athens” (i. 2), Apemantus says: “Ho, ho, confess’d it! hang’d it, have you not?”
“Cry him, and have him.” So Rosalind says, in “As You Like It” (i. 3), “If I could cry ‘hem’ and have him.”
“Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool” (“King Lear,” iii. 6). It is given by Ray in his “Proverbs” (1768); see also “Taming of the Shrew” (ii. 1).
“Cucullus non facit monachum.” So in “Henry VIII.” (iii. 1), Queen Katherine says:
Chaucer thus alludes to this proverb:
But a clean life and devotion
Maketh gode men of religion.”
“Dead as a door-nail.” So, in “2 Henry VI.” (iv. 10), Cade says to Iden: “I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door-nail, I pray God I may never eat grass more.”
We may compare the term, “dead as a herring,” which Caius uses in the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (ii. 3), “By gar, de herring is no dead, so as I vill kill him.”
“Death will have his day” (“Richard II.,” iii. 2).
“Delays are dangerous.” In “1 Henry VI.” (iii. 2), Reignier says:
“Diluculo surgere,” etc. (“Twelfth Night,” ii. 3).
“Dogs must eat.” This, with several other proverbs, is quoted by Agrippa in “Coriolanus” (i. 1).
“Dun’s the mouse” (“Romeo and Juliet,” i. 4). This was a proverbial saying, of which no satisfactory explanation has yet been given. Nares thinks it was “frequently employed with no other intent than that of quibbling on the word done.” Ray has, “as dun as a mouse.” Mercutio says: “Tut, dun’s the mouse, the constable’s own word.”
“Empty vessels give the greatest sound.” Quoted in “Henry V.” (iv. 4).
“Every dog hath his day, and every man his hour.” This old adage seems alluded to by Hamlet (v. 1):[868]
“Every man at forty is either a fool or a physician.”[869] This popular proverb is probably referred to in “Merry Wives of Windsor” (iii. 4), by Mistress Quickly, who tells Fenton how she had recommended him as a suitor for Mr. Page’s daughter instead of Doctor Caius: “This is my doing, now: ‘Nay,’ said I, ‘will you cast away your child on a fool, and a physician? look on Master Fenton:’—this is my doing.”
“Familiarity breeds contempt.” So, in the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (i. 1), Slender says: “I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt.”
“Fast bind, fast find.” In “Merchant of Venice” (ii. 5), Shylock says:
Perhaps I will return immediately:
Do as I bid you; shut doors after you;
Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.”
“Finis coronat opus.” A translation of this Latin proverb is given by Helena in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (iv. 4):
In “2 Henry VI.” (v. 2), also, Clifford’s expiring words are: “La fin couronne les œuvres.” We still have the expression to crown, in the sense of to finish or make perfect. Mr. Douce[870] remarks that “coronidem imponere is a metaphor well known to the ancients, and supposed to have originated from the practice of finishing buildings by placing a crown at the top as an ornament; and for this reason the words crown, top, and head are become synonymous in most languages. There is reason for believing
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